178 TIMBER SUPPLIES AND THE WAR 



Little need be said here of larch. The timber always 

 finds a ready market, and there will probably be an 

 upward tendency in prices for this material. For oak 

 high forest the scrub areas have been already dealt 

 with — in the absence of the nearest supplies which 

 come from Austria-Hungary and Germany there is 

 likely to be a larger demand and a higher price. Birch 

 may be in demand for furniture-making purposes, in 

 addition to pit props, as also our other useful hard- 

 woods, to take the place of imported manufactures. 



As to the size of the wood materials in demand. 

 It will be unnecessary to dwell upon division i, logs 

 and sawn timber. A few remarks may, however, 

 prove useful on pitwood. The following is a quota- 

 tion (abbreviated) for Scots pine and spruce pitwood 

 drawn up in August I914 by a large colliery proprietor 

 in Scotland.' The classes are four in number — round 

 props, quartered props, crowns, and pit sleepers ; the 

 prices are carriage paid, delivered at the mines. 



Round props — 3 in. up to 4 ft. in length fetch 35. iid. per 100 ft. 

 in J in. classes, and varying lengths, to 5J in. up 

 to 8 ft. in length, fetching los. gd. per 100 ft. 

 Quartered props — Ex. 5 in., 6 in., and 7 in. up to 4 ft. long fetch 

 2s. id., 2s. gd., and 3s. jd. per 100 ft. respec- 

 tively. 

 Crowns — 3I ft. x 3 in. x ij in. fetch id. each. 



4 ft. X 3jin. X liin. fetch ii<f. each. 



5 ft. X 4 in. X 2 in. fetch I J(Z. each. 

 5 ft. X 4iin. X zjin.fetch iji. each. 

 5 ft. X 5 in. X 2J in. fetch 2 J<f. each. 



Pit-sleepers — 3 ft. 3 in. x 5 in. x 2 in. fetch 15s. 6d. per 100. 



The butt ends of trees are usually cut up into quartered 

 wood, pit sleepers, small crowns, and hutch-boards. 

 * The prices have since greatly increased. 



